SOLO ADVENTURESS IN MANILA

MOVIE REVIEW:“CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR”

Watching your favorite Super Heroes beat the hell out of each other is always fun to see.

“Captain America: Civil War” did just that.

Because of the huge toll on people’s lives, such as the collateral damage when Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) pulverized part of a building and killed civilians in Lagos as the Avengers chased a stolen biochemical weapon – politicos decreed the superhuman guardians should submit to UN oversight.

More weird still, Steve Rogers aka Captain America (Chris Evans), the Super Soldier product of a US military experiment, was the one who spurned government interference, along with Scarlet Witch, Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie).

And to spice up things, a sort of comic relief to the dead-serious, idealistic Avengers, Spider-Man (Tom Holland) Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) joined the ruckus.

Tony Spark’s exchange with Spider Man as he sprung the secret trap door hiding the arachnid hero’s red and blue “onesie” was one of the funniest in the movie.

It was almost as hilarious and absurd as when Iron Man discovered he’s got Ant Man inside his suit.

But what I don’t understand is why after Spider Man glued his adversaries – including Captain America – all over the place and tangled them in his spider silk, his original recruiter, Iron Man told him to lay off the action for his own sake.

I also found T’Challa aka Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) an intriguing character – someone with his own agenda, a figure “known by everyone but known by no one”. Yet I felt he softened up quite disappointingly in the end.

And despite his pretty boy looks, Captain America still comes across as somewhat shallow juxtaposed with a battered and disheveled Robert Downey Jr. godfather of all Super Heroes.

Returning for the fifth time to play the greatest soldier of all time, Chris Evans says, “It’s the first time Captain America doesn’t really know the answer. It’s always cut and dry for him to know which side of the coin to fall on. But in this conflict there are no clear lines between what is right and what is wrong.”

Steve Rogers ceaselessly struggled with what happened to his former best friend, Bucky Barnes aka Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), now turned into a killing machine– and a large part of the movie revolved on how Steve clung to the hope that he could still get his best friend back.

The ultimate dilemma is similar to “Batman versus Superman”, the thrill is only amplified because you have more superheroes slugging it out, only this one has more comic relief, with Spider Man and Ant Man thrown in.

Naturally, fans are expected to take sides. They would root for either Team Cap or Team Iron Man.

“The concept of Civil War is very important,” the Directors, brothers Anthony and Joe Russo stressed.

“Our goal was to tell the story in such a way that both sides have really compelling cases. Both Tony Stark and Steve Rogers have very compelling points of view. We want people to be conflicted and torn, which creates a sense of tension about what’s going to happen after this film.”